Richard Yamamoto, physics professor, dies at age 74

Richard Yamamoto, a physicist whose work revealed the interactions of subatomic particles, died today at the age of 74 from complications of lung cancer. Yamamoto, who was born and raised in Hawaii, came to MIT as a freshman in 1953 and spent his entire career at the Institute. He was known for his love of working with his hands as well as his contributions to understanding elementary particles, according to colleagues. "He loved to work with students, making things," says Peter Fisher, division head of particle and nuclear experimental physics, who began working with Yamamoto in 1994. "He was happiest when he had his hands on some screw, adjusting a mirror, and looking at an oscilloscope." Yamamoto worked for many years on experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, where his team showed that a type of particular interaction called a weak interaction appeared differently if viewed...

Read the whole article on MIT Research

More from MIT Research

Related